The good folks at PBS and Kill Screen Daily that bring us Game/Show have another interesting look into how we game. This week, they examine why gamers get angry about games and the affect rage has on how we play. It’s a really cool video they did and it’s good to see there’s nothing wrong with throwing the occasional controller. And they have a Francis clip which is always awesome.
Geek Links of the Week
We’ve already talked about current-gen Battlefield 4. Now, how do the next-gen versions BF4 stack up. Only slightly shockingly, EA’s “special relationship” with Xbox has resulted in the XB1 version having better textures than the PS4. I’m not saying accusing anyone of anything but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… [Digital Foundry]
And what about Battlefield’s PC fans? Well, I found a comparison of how various graphics cards handle BF4. Makes me wonder if I should upgrade to the R9 290X if I can find a good deal. [The Guru of 3D]
Was Beyond: Two Souls really a linear train ride throughout the whole game? One man sorted through the evidence to find that there were choices in the game but they may not have been obvious to everyone. [Player’s Delight]
Have you ever wondered where all the game console pictures on Wikipedia came from? Chances are they came from this one man. [Peta Pixel]
Star Wars: 1313 will never be made thanks to Disney killing LucasArts. Now we can lament what could have been with these pieces of concept art from the game. [Kotaku]
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EA Cancels Command & Conquer, Closes Victory Games
Those of you hoping for a big budget free-to-play real-time strategy game that could rival the big RTS games out on the market will have to wait a little longer. EA announced this week that they were cancelling the in-development F2P RTS Command & Conquer and closing its developers Victory Games.
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PC Magazine Award Winners Have to Pay to Say They’re Award Winners
I know that people often joke that certain big awards are bought and paid for but PC Magazine has their own unique way of getting money out of award recipients. Rather than making them pay to win the award, Ziff Davis, the owners of PC Mag, make winners pay to use the logo saying they’re PC Magazine award winners.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS3 / 360)
I’ll make an admission before we go on. I was so bored with the story in AC: Revelations that I stopped playing part way through. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t think I made it more than a couple of hours in AC3 either. I went about as completionist as I had this side of Mass Effect or the PS1 & PS2 Final Fantasy games in the first three AC games but couldn’t will myself to even finish the two most recent.
A lot of critics hail AC4 as a return to form for the franchise with a focus on an increase in the general fun in the series thanks to piracy and the pirate-themed story. Mind you, there were quite a few reviewers lamenting that little had changed mechanically in this game when compared to the previous games in the franchise. If you’ve played previous AC games and loved them, you’ll probably love this one too. For those who fell, out of love… Do you like pirates?
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The Force is with These Star Wars Bloopers
Better than normal bloopers are the long-lost bloopers of a much-loved film. Recently, some old Star Wars bloopers surfaced on YouTube which shows that not everything went smoothly a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And we also get to see why stormtroopers struggle so much with their job. Not only can they not see anything in that helmet but they can barely stand up straight.
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NVIDIA Enters the GPU Price War with GTX 770 & 780 Price Cut
When AMD announced the prices for their new R9 series of graphics cards, everyone expected it to kick off a price war, especially when the flagship R9 290X was competitive with NVIDIA’s GTX 780 and Titan for only $550. Now, the green brand is answering the bell and is slashing the prices on some of its top offerings.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Battlefield 4 (PS3 / Xbox 360)
Just when you thought that the next-gen console launches would be the gaming event of the year to bankrupt you, yesterday happened. We had the releases of WWE 2K14 and Sonic Lost World (coverage soon) and the current-gen launches of Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed 4. We’ll be covering the next-gen versions of those games when they come out (I haven’t decided if I’ll break-up critics roundups between PS4 and XB1 later) but for now, we have the current generation editions of these games to cover.
One of this year’s most interesting battles will be the sales duel between spunkgargleweewees as Battlefield 4 and CoD: Ghosts are out within a week of each other this year. The first one up is BF4. While nobody expects the current-gen version of the game to be as good as the next-gen or PC builds of the game, the consensus is that the multiplayer portion of the game is great and the single-player is as underwhelming as usual. However, I don’t think you’re buying a modern military shooter for the story. Unless you’re buying Spec Ops: The Line. That game was fantastic.
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Comic Book Pull List for October 30, 2013
With Halloween later this week, it’s only appropriate for all the horror comics to hit the shelves at your local comic book shop this week. And if your favourite horror series are from the smaller publishers, you’re in luck. Big Dog Ink has Rex: Zombie Killer #1. Boom! Studios brings you Adventure Time Spoooktacular #1 and Hellraiser Annual #. Ash & the Army of Darkness #1 debuts over at Dynamite. And IDW haunts you with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #12. Wait…
Anyway, the big two have some new series for you. Andy Kubert is back with one of his characters as he explores the origins of Damien Wayne in Damien: Son of Batman #1. Neil Gaiman is back with his Sandman series with the new six-issue miniseries The Sandman: Overture. Over at Marvel, Doc Ock battles Doc Ock in Superior Spider-Man Team Up Special #1. And the miniseries ends here in Deadpool Kills Deadpool #4.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: WWE 2K14
There’s a whole pile of games coming out today. There’s the current-gen and PC releases of Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The North America release of Sonic: Lost World is today. And only one major release didn’t have a review embargo that was on the day of release. That would be the latest game in the long running WWE franchise (well, long running in its various iterations), WWE 2K14.
I could tell you about what the critics said but whether you buy it will come down to the same reason I pre-ordered it: Nostalgia. The 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode brought back many of my childhood favourites and some iconic wrestling moments. Apart from that addition and some improvements to the Universe and creation modes, the in-ring action in more of the same for long-time fans of the series. So, like I said, this one is mostly about the nostalgia.
P.S. Do as I say, not as I do, and don’t pre-order games… Even if The Ultimate Warrior is the pre-order bonus.
et geekera 